Food for Friday – Kind of Random

Phew! It’s been a very busy and eventful week for me. Since we were sort of overloaded with Valentine’s Day posts, I thought maybe we could ligten up around here a little. So, let’s just call this “Kind of Random Food for Friday”. Like that picture over there from when I was in Mexico a couple of months ago. Delicious looking, but totally random.

So, first things first, did you guys notice how my husband respond to questions in the comments about the chocolate pie. He’s great isn’t he? He also wants you to know that he was somewhat misrepresented in this post about the braised chicken with beans. Just to be clear, when I said that he surprised me with dinner, the surprise wasn’t that he made dinner, the surprise was what he made. Cooking and meal planning has always been a family affair around here, with everyone pitching in. And as it happens, since my man is home from work a full hour ahead of me, making dinner has been falling on his shoulders most nights.

Ok. Now that credit has been given where credit is due, how was your Valentine’s day? How was your week? Are any of you guys still meal planning?

When talking with my friend Kate this week, I noted how my exposure to an abundance of recipes and glorious photos of food helps me keep dinnertime kind of creative and a little fun (yep, I’m a food geek!). Food really is fun for me and so I do a lot of reading of food blogs, cookbooks, and such. I think that this exposure has greatly improved my skills in the kitchen and has increased my enjoyment of eating dinner with my family significantly — even when we’re in a hurry (I know, a really big food geek). So, I thought it would be fun to share some of the resources that I’m finding inspiring right now, in case they inspire you the same as they’ve inspired me. And anyway, it’s the end of February, don’t we all need a bit more colour?

How about you guys? Do you have any favourite blogs, sites, or books, for mealtime inspiration? Have a great weekend everyone (a long one for my fellow Ontarians) and we’ll be back next Friday with something fresh!

I do meal planning still but its fallen on the wayside a little with my blogging. LOL poor guy I can see how he would take a wee bit of offence to the post. I am a man and we sometimes have a bit of pride and don't always see what the women are really sayin 🙂 lol

Pinterest has become my favorite way to find new ideas for the kitchen, although I will fully admit that my husband does the vast majority of the cooking here too. I tend to do more of the fun stuff, like baking! SASS

I *LOVE* pinterest for all kinds of inspiration, and they certainly have an abundance of recipes with fantastic photos to go with! I also loved watching the food network (when I had the channel, lol) for ideas. I had no idea how easy it was to make paneer (indian cheese) until I saw it made in five minutes real-time on a FN show, lol.

I love cookbooks – and I have a lot!! Love to cook and love to eat 😉 Still more or less the same favorite meals we eat during a month, but I try to sneak in new recipes once in a while when I have the time and energy.

Last week you inspired me with your Valentines Dinner, in particular the mashed potatoes with horseradish – delicious! Thanks! 🙂

Thanks for all the great comments and suggestions, folks! I totally had a *smack the forehead* moment when I saw all of you suggesting Pinterest. I have 'pinned' many a food item to my boards but didn't think about mentioning it here. For me, I think Pinterest is still about the visual impact, that it hadn't really occurred to me to look for any recipes that weren't spectacularly towering cakes and the like (aka entirely impracticable ideas)

@ mamawee I've been to “definitelynotmartha” before but somehow hadn't put her in my RSS reader. Thanks for reminding me how great her site is.